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FROM the depths of teenage heroin addiction, Sam Childers turned himself into a Reverend and a multi-million dollar industry, all for the sake of charity.

The American who calls himself 'The Machine Gun Preacher' is now on a fundraising tour of Australia, and visited Roma at Jubilee Hall last week to speak about his orphanages in Sudan and Ethiopia.

The sensational name was fitting, as Childers quickly disarmed the Roma audience with an open 'Q and A' forum, inviting questions about everything from his criminal past to financial details of his business interests.

"When someone comes to me asking for money for an investment, I want to ask some pretty serious questions, and you should do the same," he said.

Father Scott Gunthorpe said he found the talk informative and entertaining.

"He's got such an interesting story; It's a coupe to get him here in Roma because he's become quite a celebrity since the movie came out," he said.

For 15 years Childers' mission has been to rescue orphans and child soldiers in Africa, fighting against the warlords of Northern Sudan, and founding an orphanage on the border of South Sudan and Uganda

Childers achieved worldwide notoriety after a Dateline NBC report about the child soldiers abducted by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army, which aired in 2005.

He has built an empire of businesses at home in America, including a celebrity bodyguard service and a motorcycle factory (MGP Motorcycles) in order to fund his operations.

Hollywood has already adapted his mission to the big screen, and bought the rights to Childers' life story for a record breaking $1.25 million to make a feature-length documentary, due for release next year.

"Let's be honest, really this is all marketing," Childers told his audience.

"I own the name Machine Gun Preacher, it's a brand, and it makes a lot of money so that I can keep paying to help these children and fight for their freedom.

"How many of you would have come out here tonight if you were told some guy called Reverend Childers was going to give a sermon?"